Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko signed an order dismissing the Director of the Department of Public Communications of the Kyiv City State Administration, Myroslava Smirnova. Document No. 60 is dated February 18, 2026. The official was dismissed on the same day by agreement of the parties with the provision of payment of material assistance and a full social package.
This decision was unexpected, as Smirnova was considered one of the key media managers in the mayor's team. During the period of political tension surrounding the capital's authorities, it was the public communications department that provided a prompt response to information attacks and criminal proceedings against Klitschko's entourage.
The dismissal occurred two and a half months after her promotion in the political structure. On December 4, 2025, Myroslava Smirnova headed the UDAR faction in the Kyiv City Council, replacing co-chairs Dmytro Bilotserkovets and Valentyn Mondryivskyi. At the time, this was perceived as strengthening her position in the mayor's team. Now one of the versions is that Klitschko decided to focus her work precisely on internal party coordination and balancing interests in the faction.
However, there are other assumptions. In February, Kyiv suffered from a transport collapse for several days due to uncleared snow and ice on the roads. Despite Vitali Klitschko's nightly video addresses from empty streets, the city was practically paralyzed by traffic jams. Some experts believe that the information support of this situation turned out to be weak, and the "snow case" was a blow to the reputation of the city authorities.
However, there are currently no grounds for dismissal in the form of criminal suspicions. In previous cases, heads of departments of the Kyiv City State Administration were dismissed after being served with suspicions by law enforcement officers. In the situation with Smirnova, such a development of events was not recorded.
Myroslava Smirnova's career trajectory in the city government looked stable. In November 2024, she was on a business trip to London, where, in addition to participating in an international tourism forum, she met with the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Valery Zaluzhny. Her position was not shaken by the August 2025 incident, when unknown persons tried to provoke a scandal around her dinner on the Day of Mourning.
That is why the decision to dismiss seems unexpected. Possible reasons include a reformatting of the capital's communication strategy, internal political arrangements, or personal circumstances. No official explanation has been made public by the Kyiv City State Administration so far.
Thus, Klitschko actually vacated the position of the city's chief communications manager at a time when the information front remains one of the most sensitive areas for the capital's authorities.
